This book holds four flashcard decks: 140 cards written to the 19 Grade 4 standards of the Wisconsin Standards for Science (2017). Science is tested on the Forward Exam at grades 4 and 8 only. Every card is a new item. Read the front, answer in your head, then turn the page to flip it. (The real test is untimed and given in three sessions of about 15 questions. Wisconsin builds it to 40 points, with Life Science, Physical Science, Earth and Space Science, and Engineering each carrying 8 to 12 points, and the cards follow Wisconsin’s Grade 4 split: 32, 40, 36, 32.)
What’s inside
- Four color-coded decks of 35 cards each: Like Test Day (test-style questions), Key Concepts (one idea per card), Vocabulary (the terms the standards use), and Trouble Spots (the ideas Wisconsin’s standards single out as easy to confuse)
- Like Test Day cards written the way the Forward Exam asks them: multiple choice and select-two questions with figures, tables, and data
- Key Concepts cards that ask your child to explain an idea, then show the principle and a worked example
- Vocabulary cards that define each term in the language the standards use
- Trouble Spots cards whose wrong choices are the exact mix-ups students make, plus six that ask your child to judge a student’s claim. Three of the six are correct
- The answer on the very next page: the correct answer, a plain-language explanation, and a Tip that names the mistake behind the wrong choices
- A drawing on all 140 cards, each drawn for its own card and never repeated, plus 9 data tables
- The Wisconsin standard each card tests, printed on the back word for word with its category and grade
- Each deck in its own color; the amber box is always a Tip
- A letter to families on how the test is built and scored, with test-taking tips
- A Study Reference printing all 19 standards with the four reporting categories
- A Quick Answer Key for the two question decks
Topics covered
- Inside and outside structures of plants and animals and the jobs they do
- Senses, the brain, and how animals act on information
- Energy of motion, and energy moving by sound, light, heat, and current
- Collisions and the energy they pass along
- Plants capturing the sun’s energy, stored in food and fuel
- Waves: amplitude, wavelength, and waves moving objects
- Seeing objects by reflected light, and patterns that send information
- Rock layers and ordering events in a landscape
- Weathering, erosion, and Earth’s systems working together
- Patterns of landforms, earthquakes, and volcanoes on maps
- Natural resources, natural hazards, and reducing their harm
- Criteria and constraints, and testing solutions to find the best one
Why parents and teachers choose Smart Stars
- Written by educators who study Wisconsin’s own standards, test design, and blueprint
- Four ways to study the same 19 standards, not one worksheet format repeated
- All 140 cards are original items written for Wisconsin, never repeated from the Smart Stars practice-test book
How to use this book
Work through one deck in order the first time, then jump to any deck from the table of contents. Answer before turning the page, read the back even when you were right, and note the standard on every missed card. Start with Like Test Day and save Trouble Spots for last. Ten to fifteen cards a day beats one long sitting.
Search “Smart Stars Wisconsin Forward Exam” on Amazon for additional Wisconsin test prep titles.
The four decks
- Like Test Day (35 cards): Each card is a test-style question written to the Grade 4 Wisconsin Forward Exam in science.
- Key Concepts (35 cards): Each card asks you to explain one science idea from the Grade 4 Wisconsin Forward Exam in science.
- Vocabulary (35 cards): Each card is a single term used on the Grade 4 Wisconsin Forward Exam in science.
- Trouble Spots (35 cards): Each card is built on a distinction the Wisconsin science standards draw and students most often blur: weathering against erosion, criteria against constraints, energy moving against energy changing form, evidence against explanation.Some cards give you a claim a student wrote and ask you to judge it.
How the cards work
Read the front of a card, answer it in your head, then turn the page. The answer card shows the answer, a worked explanation, a Tip naming the mistake behind the wrong choices, and the exact Wisconsin standard the card tests. When you miss a card, write down the reporting category and the Wisconsin standard printed on its answer page. Those are the questions to practice again before test day.
Color code. Each deck has its own color on every card, so you always know which deck you are in. The amber box is always a Tip.
Pair it with the practice tests
Wisconsin Forward Exam Grade 4 Science Practice Tests
Work through full-length practice tests in the same test format, then use these cards to review what each test turns up.
